Bloom maintains lead over Butler for Assembly seat

NORWALK, Calif. ‚Äî Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom held onto a slim lead over opponent Assemblywoman Betsy Butler (D-Marina del Rey) in their competition for the 50th Assembly District as officials finished another day of tallying Tuesday.

County employees added another 98,896 ballots to the count, 11,079 of which were for the 50th Assembly race.

Bloom and Butler have been separated by a hair since the counting began last week, with Bloom taking an early 218-vote lead. That narrowed to 103 on Friday, with Bloom bouncing back by 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Countywide, roughly 6,000 vote by mail ballots did not arrive on time to meet the 8 p.m. election deadline and will not be counted, according to the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk‚Äôs office.